NEWBIE - How to make fresh water ready to swim?

[PhantomAndy]

The main problem you will likely face is the water temperature - it's gonna be cold coming from City or a Well.

If you are on City water - I'd check your chem levels - and most likely you will be ready to swim right after filling. You will want to add the proper amount of bleach to your pool to get your Cl up to 2 or 3 ppm (since you won't have any stabilizer).

You may also want to consider adding a little stabilizer (aka. conditioner and CYA) so you will be able to maintain some Cl all the time. With no stabilizer you won't be able to hold Cl during the day.

Until you get your stabilizer level to 20 or 30 ppm, I'd suggest adding your bleach after sundown (enough to bring you to 3ppm or so).

I got in my 18x36 IG while it was filling off my water hose after it was about 1 foot deep in the shallow end (paddled around a bit in the deep end) but boy was it cold.

[Bruce_B]

I'm filling my 18' tomorrow and I plan to be in it while it's fillling. The water going in is the same water I shower with and drink so I can't imagine why it would be a problem to swim in, except for the temperature. At least I'll be in direct sunlight until late afternoon.

Bruce

[DCR]

You definitely have to get your CYA level correct, or it will not be possible to put enough bleach in to keep any acceptable level of chlorine. I went through this last year when I purchased my first pool. It did not matter how much bleach I would put in the next night my chlorine level would be immeasurable.

Get yourself a test kit that uses drops not strips. The strips are junk. Get some stabilizer (CYA) and follow the instructions exactly. Make sure you don't put in too much you can always add, but to reduce the CYA level you must drain some water out and refill. Pour the stabilizer in the skimmer. It takes awhile for it to dissolve, so run your pump for at least two days non-stop, and wait at least that long before checking it.

[Watermom]

DCR is right that without cya you'll have a hard time keeping a chlorine reading. Until your cya has a time to dissolve, you'll probably need to test your water and add bleach morning and night. Actually, it is highly unlikely that cya will be dissolved in two days. More like a week. Don't test for it, add more or backwash for at least that long. Also, I don't think you have to run your pump non-stop during this time. Whenever I add cya in the spring, I stay with my normal pump run times and have never had a problem.

[DCR]

DCR is right that without cya you'll have a hard time keeping a chlorine reading. Until your cya has a time to dissolve, you'll probably need to test your water and add bleach morning and night. Actually, it is highly unlikely that cya will be dissolved in two days. More like a week. Don't test for it, add more or backwash for at least that long. Also, I don't think you have to run your pump non-stop during this time. Whenever I add cya in the spring, I stay with my normal pump run times and have never had a problem.

I was pretty sure I read on this forum that you should run your pump non-stop when adding CYA, and I believe the instructions on CYA says two days non-stop.

[Watermom]

I never have and have never had a problem.

[KurtV]

I was pretty sure I read on this forum that you should run your pump non-stop when adding CYA, and I believe the instructions on CYA says two days non-stop.

I'm sure that running your pump non-stop would help the CYA to dissolve faster, but to what end? If you add it through the skimmer and run your pump for "normal" periods, it will just be stuck in the filter a bit longer. I can't imagine what harm it would do there.

[cwstnsko]

Since CYA is an acid, before you turn off the pump make sure you know where the undissolved CYA is going to collect and whether that location is suitable for several hours of exposure to an acidic environment.